Expansible bracelet



Patented Mar. 21, 1950 EXPANSIBLE BRACELET Louis A. Anderson, Attleboro, Mass, assignor to Ripley & Gowen Company, Inc., Attleboro,

Mass.

Application January 19, 1949, Serial No. 71,649

2 Claims.

This invention relates to an expansible bracelet and it consists in the constructions, arrangements and combinations herein described and v claimed.

It is an object of the invention to provide a bracelet wherein a pair of rigid wrist encircling band members are resilienty connected with an ornamental object, the bands and the object being interconnected and supported upon a substantially C-shaped leaf spring, concealed within the bands and ornamental object.

More specifically it is an important object of the invention to provide a new and novel means of connecting a pair of hollow wrist encircling bands with an ornamental object, the bands being connected at opposed sides of the ornament,.a C-shaped leaf spring being enclosed within said bands and extending from said bands and across the ornamental object, thereby confining the expansive action of the bracelet at the bight portion of the spring and at points of attachment of the bands with the ornament.

Additional objects, advantages and features of invention will be apparent from the following description and accompanying drawing, wherein Figure 1 is a top plan View of a bracelet constructed in accordance with the present invention;

Figure 2 is a cross section on the line 2-2 of Figure 4;

Figure 3 is a top plan view of a partial assembly of a bracelet;

Figure 4 is an elevational view of the bracelet;

Figure 5 is an enlarged cross sectional View on the line 5-5 of Figure 2; and

Figure 6 is a fragmentary sectional view illustrating the relation of the C-spring, the band members and anchorage lugs for the ornament.

There is illustrated a bracelet ill comprising a pair of wrist embracing arms l l and i2 resiliently connected to an ornament l3, as will presently be described.

The arms II and i2 are identical in construc tion and consist of a semi-circular tubular metallic band of precious or semi-precious metal, the inner face M of which is somewhat flattened, while the outer face it is substantially convex, as seen in cross section (see Figure 2). One end of the bands are closed as at l6, while the opposite end I'! is open for admission of a C-shaped spring l8. The leaf spring 18 is of flat formation as seen in cross section, and of such dimensions as to be slidably received within the arms ii and I2, the respective ends of the spring being inserted into the open ends ll of the armsas seen in Figures 3 and 6. The side walls [9 of the arms are slit at spaced points as at 2B, the metal between the slits being bent outwardly at right angles to provide lugs 2|, which function for retention of the arms within the ornament as will now be described.

As best seen in Figure 5, the ornament is of hollow formation consisting of a main body shell 22 which may have any desired shape and includes a circumscribing wall 23 which is formed with a pair of slots 24 at diametrically opposite sides thereof and within each of these slots respective ends ll of the arms are disposed, the lugs 2! lying flush against the inner face of the wall 23, and projecting beyond the boundary of the slots 24. The ends H of the arms H and [2 are flattened as at 25 so as to snugly engage the slots, after which a backing plate 26 is positioned within the shell 22 and the peripheral edge of the wall 23 is peened or otherwise upset as at 21 to secure the backing plate snugly in position.

Inasmuch as the ends ll of the arms are secured to opposed walls of the ornament It, a substantial bight portion it of the spring is unattached permitting a flexing of said portion without presenting undue strain at the point of connection between the arms and the wall of the ornament.

Wh le I have shown and described a preferred embodiment of the invention, this is by way of illustration only and I consider as my own all such modifications in construction as fairly fall within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

, l. A flexible bracelet comprising an ornamental housing having a wall, said wall having slots formed in opposite portions thereof, a tubular arm seated in each slot, each arm having a right angular lug lying flush against respective sides of the slots, said arms being of semi-circular shape and terminating beneath said ornamental housing, and a C-shaped leaf spring within said arms and extending unattached between the walls of the ornament.

2. A flexible bracelet comprising an ornamental housing having a circumscribing wall, slots formed in opposite portions of the wall, a tubular arm having an open flattened end seated within respective slots, opposite sdes of said arms at said ends being slit longitudinally to provide right angularly extended lugs of a length extending beyond said slots, the opposite end of said arms terminating beneath said ornamental housing and a C-shaped leaf spring within said arms and extending unattached between opposed Walls of the ornamental housing.

LOUIS A. ANDERSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 299,658 I Liebel June 3, 1884 1,971,094 Boots Aug. 21, 1934 

